How McDonald’s Did a Burger-Crowdsourcing Campaign

McDonald’s has gone deeper into the social media universe. McDonald’s Germany says it has achieved a social media breakthrough with its “My Burger” crowdsourcing campaign.

An online burger configurator gives fans the opportunity to create their own burgers and give them individual names. The burger creations are then voted on and the winners are marketed and sold at all of McDonald’s 1,415 restaurants in Germany.

As crowdsourcing concept is gaining momentum, participants in a challenge submitted their designs online for review. Feedback from the community of more than 12,000 designers and enthusiasts enabled participants to incorporate ideas and concepts from their peers, helping to create a better vehicle in an open source process. (Read: Online Community Co-Creates a Military Vehicle)

Nissan also launched a social media-directed Nissan 370Z build-up called “Project 370Z.” The project aimed to utilize the knowledge of Nissan Z fans to help direct the creation of Nissan 370Z. It invited fans on Facebook to vote on potential modifications and follow along with the progress online. (Read: Nissan Invites Facebook Fans for Car Project)

In McDonald’s crowdsourcing campaign, around 330,000 burger recipes were submitted in 2012 with a combined total of 5 million votes for all creative burger ideas. The successful crowdsourcing project has set an international example, says McDonald’s. Fans are creating and have created their favorite burger online in the Netherlands, Spain and Austria.

Nuremberg grilled sausages or Black Forest ham on a burger were some of the typical German ingredients, which were most successful at last year’s “My Burger” contest. The competition was back this year, and again traditional German ingredients were highly preferred.

The first burger to be sold will be the “Pretzelnator,” starting April 26 at all of McDonald’s Germany restaurants. Another four winning burgers will be making their debut for one week only. Last year’s five contest winners were immediate bestsellers, providing a major sales boost, says the company.

The campaign was developed by the digital agency Razorfish in Berlin, Germany.